Move In P.N. To Short Circuit Container Dispute

Chronicle (Levin), 19 February 1949, Page 5

Move In P.N. To Short Circuit Container Dispute

A fruit abd Vbgetahl6 stall viiil be opened in Falfilerstoil Nbftb Oii fTueSday morningj by tbfi ManaWatti Produce G-rotwers' AsbdciatiOh. This is thf latest ddveiepinent in the .cbntaitier dispute betwfefen ffuit aiid vegetabie re tailers and the produce growers in Pai merston North. The site of the stall to be. operated by the grbWerS will be or. the vUcaht patking lot in ChUrch iSsbfeet next to the ClUb Hotel ahd opposite the Police Statibh. The move follows a conference be •tween the Palmerston North City Couu cil and the growers. An of&cial of thf growers' organlsation stated last nigh. that tlie City Couneil officers had b.eeu most cooperative andj in common with the gro wei's, wished to ensure that thi publie wsould be able to secure thei. necessary supplies of fruit' and vege tables. He understood the .retailer. were perturbed about the schenie bu; did not know if they were making any move to. change the mind of the Cit; Couneil. •

The retailers ' boycott of the . fruit and vegetabie markets in Palmerston North continued yesterday. Both tht retailers and growers appeared deter mined that they would not give way on the matter of eontainer charges. Mean while a greater number of. house wivei took advantage of the opportunity toi cheaper produce and saies were fairly brisk. Prices remained comparativeiy low. As the boycott entered its second day a ' weakening of iildividual opposition on both sides was noticeable althougli .there was no outstanding instance o. retailers paying the eontainer charge in defiance of their federation policy, nor of growers waiving their claim to the charge. Small Gardeners Intervene. One city market is still selling produce without charging for containers with high priees resulting. Last night a member of the growers' association asserted that the people supplying that market were not members of his organisation and were probably small gar deners who weite taking advantage ot the dispute to sell their produce at j good priees. The members of the grow- , ers ' association were still firmly behincl the policy set down by the nationai federation of growers, he said.

Some meinbers of the public appeared to buy fairly large , quantities of fruit for their households and although it was suggested that this would eventually find its way into the retail shops, no verification cotild be found of this In actual fact, retailers appeared ditiident about being seen in the crowd ot buyers when goods were being sold to whieh the eontainer -charge was attaeh,ecL ... .

Fruit Was in fairly short supply and it appeared that the growers were sending very little to the markets. Peaches were greatly sought after by the publie and a large consignment of neetarines sold qUiekly but at a low price to the housewives. There were very few fresh vegetables eoming to haqd. Disproportionate Marwin. The effect of the boycott so far has been to create a disproportionate margin of cost between the produce on whieh eontainer charge was levied and that on whieh it Was not. One case ot lettuce, plus eontainer charge, could not find a bidder at 2s , but another case,.on Whieh the charge did not appiy, and in whieh there wer.e 30 to 40 first grade lettuce, sold to an eagef buyer at 20s. At least one mart had to rely on Thursday 's leftover stocks of lettuce because ihe growers sent none in yesterday. One auetioneer got over the diffi culty of having no bidder for a case of a dozen red cabbage in a practieal manner. He sorted the eabbages out into lots of four and had little diffieulty in selling a lot for Is. a The auetioneers were firm but it was obvious they realised the dispute was causing them undue Work and worry as well as considerable loss of revenue. Most auction floors were quite well cleared yesterday with housewives determined to have vegetables for the weekend, but growers are waiting with some apprehension for the start of next week when fewer lots are expected to be sold. An interesting feature of the dispute is that neither retailers nor auetioneers have allowed the dispute to impair ttieir normal good relations. The »retailers appear to be resigned to the decisions of their federation' officers and the auetioneers are taking an attitude of impartiality.